Henry McIver

For the chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, see Henry McIver (judge).
Henry McIver
Bornc. 1841
Virginia, United States
Died1907
Allegiance Britain
Italy
Don Carlos
Confederate States of America
Second Mexican Empire
Serbia
Branch East India Company
 Confederate States Army
ConflictsIndian Rebellion of 1857
Expedition of the Thousand
Second Carlist War
American Civil War
Second French intervention in Mexico
Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)

Henry Douglas McIver (c. 1841–1907) was an American mercenary who fought for 18 countries during the nineteenth-century.

Early life

McIver was born in about 1841. He spent first ten years of his life in Virginia, United States, and then he was sent to his uncle, General Donald Graham, to finish school and prepare for West Point. Instead of West Point, McIver joined the private army of the East India Company when he was only 16 years old.

Career

He was sent to India in 1858. At that time, the Sepoy Mutiny raged in India and during battle, McIver was seriously wounded by a tulmar blow to his skull.[1]

In 1860, McIver fought under Giuseppe Garibaldi in Italy, and after that joined the pretender for the Spanish crown, Don Carlos.

When the American Civil War broke out, Henry McIver joined the Confederate side. Although he was only 20 years old at the time he was already an experienced soldier. While fighting for the Confederates, he was under the command of three famous Confederate generals: Jackson, Stewart and Smith. He was wounded in the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862.[2]

At the end of the war, he allegedly challenged a Union officer, Major Tomlin, to a duel, which he won, running Tomlin through the body.[3] When the Confederacy capitulated, McIver fled to Mexico, where he joined Emperor Maximilian in fighting Juárez’s rebels.

In Mexico he was captured by Indians, and escaped three months later by swimming across the Rio Grande. He fought at Monterrey, and for his deeds received the title of count. When the Juárez rebellion was successful, Maximilian was executed, and McIver fled to Tampico, where he boarded a ship and left for South America.

In the War of 1877-1878, McIver offered his services to the Serbians, initially being commissioned a colonel of volunteers and later rising to the rank of general and overall cavalry commander of the Serbian contingents.[4][5]

In 1883, McIver organized a company for British colonization of New Guinea; the project had to be abandoned in 1884 after failing to gain the approval of the Earl of Derby.

Death

McIver died in 1907.

References

  1. ^ Wright, William (2011). A Tidy Little War: The British Invasion of Egypt 1882. The History Press. p. 1864. ISBN 9780752475844.
  2. ^ L'Estrange 1884, pp. 177–180, 184.
  3. ^ "A Duel in Mississippi". New York Daily-Tribune. 6 April 1866.
  4. ^ Davis 1906, p. 235.
  5. ^ "General of Serbian calvary Henry MacIver". Serbum. Archived from the original on 1 June 2014.

Sources

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